The International Federation of Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) marched on Sunday 11 January with their three member unions in France -- Syndicat national des journalistes (SNJ), Syndicat national des journalistes-confédération générale du travail (SNJ-CGT) and CFDT -- at the million-strong march in Paris. The march, dubbed the Unity March, was in protest at the attack of 8 January on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which two gunmen killed 12 people, including seven journalists and three media workers. The gunmen were later identified as two brothers,Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi.

The editor of the magazine Stéphane Charbonnier and three well-known cartoonists Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski were among the killed. On the same day, another gunman Amedy Coulibaly, shot dead a policewoman and on took hostages on Friday at a kosher supermarket, killing four of them. The Houachi brothers and Coulibaly were killed by security forces after a three-day manhunt across Paris.

The killings of journalists and hostages caused outrage in France and the whole world, triggering street protests to defend press freedom and denounce extremism. The massive rally in Paris was attended by families of the victims, journalists’ organisations and over 50 world leaders, including heads of state and governments, led by the French President, Francois Hollande.

In 2011, Charlie Hebdo was the target of an arson attack which damaged its offices, following the publication by the magazine of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Since then, its editor, Charbonnier known as Charb, was given police protection. His killers reportedly shouted to onlookers that they had avenged the Prophet and told media that they are from Al-Qaeda in Yemen. A video of Amedy Coulibaly was also posted, in which he pledged allegiance to the leader of the so-called Islamic State(IS).